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Rupee gains 4 paise

The rupee opened nearly steady at Rs 38.78-80 per US dollar and moved within a narrow range of 2 to 3 paise due to less demand from the corporate sector and surplus liquidity, dealers said.

The SBI also quoted the dollar rates between the range of Rs 38.78-81 during the intraday trading and at the fag end, the State Bank of India sold nominal amounts of dollar which helped in the recovery of rupee. The Indian unit finally closed at Rs 38.765/775 per unit, dealers said.

Two-way transactions were carried out by SBI in the forward premiums. During the first session SBI was paying in forwards while at the fag end it was receiving in near forwards, dealers said, and added that 5 to 6 export contract cancellations were witnessed in the forward premiums.

The six-month annualised premia was quoted at 13.52 per cent while the cash to spot dollar closed at 2 paise premium. The monthly forward premiums quoted in paise are 8-9 for February, 53-55 for March, 111-113 for April, 153-156 for May, 197-202 for June, 243-246 for July and 270-275 for August.

A marginal amount of export and import booking was done in cash to spot basis, while nominal amount of export booking was conducted in the near forwards.

In the overseas market, the world's major currencies -- pound sterling was quoted at Rs 63.50, the mark at Rs 21.30 and yen at Rs 31.04 (per 100 yen).

The Reserve Bank of India fixed the reference rate at Rs 38.80 per us dollar.

UNI